Call for inquiry records to be anonymised, not sealed

Thousands of testimonies relating to child abuse in institutions and related records should be redacted and anonymised, instead of being sealed for 75 years. That is according to the former head of special projects at the National Archives of Ireland, Catriona Crowe, who is one of the most vocal critics of the proposed Retention of Records Bill 2019.

The planned legislation will see records from the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, the Residential Institutions Redress Board, and Residential Institutions Redress Review Committee put in the National Archives of Ireland and sealed for a minimum of 75 years. The Department of Education said consideration was given to “alternative approaches” to sealing the records, including anonymisation and redaction. However, this approach was ruled out over concerns that such a process “could rob them of part of their historical significance”.